Updating Your Child’s Bookshelf
Adoption books are hard to come by; good adoption books are even harder to find. Many adoptive parents trust older classics or may get so excited when they see a […]
Adoption books are hard to come by; good adoption books are even harder to find. Many adoptive parents trust older classics or may get so excited when they see a […]
Introduction The book, Little Fires Everywhere, by Celeste Ng, published in 2017, was recently adapted for a T.V. miniseries on Hulu earlier this year (Shelton et al., 2020). The show […]
I recently participated in a FCCNY book club discussion of The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane by Lisa See. The book revolves around a Chinese adoption story. The author, Lisa See, is not an adoptee, and her limited knowledge of adoption and adoptee identity development was very apparent throughout the book. At the end of the meeting, the adoptive mothers in the group began discussing book possibilities for future meetings. This prompted me to put together a list of adoption reading for anyone considering an adoption themed book club or wanting more information about adoption.
Read this book if you want to think of birth mothers reimagined, a fantastical rags to riches “Cinderella” story, or a beautiful portrayal of scenery and a lesser known culture, not if you are an adoptee looking to identify with Haley, the Chinese adoptee character in the story. While Lisa See tried to do her research, her identity as a non-adopted person shows clearly in the adoptee parts of this book. The use of common adoption tropes and clunky, developmentally-off dialogue made the adoptee passages difficult for me to read or even get excited about until the last chapter.
Every Year On Your Birthday Authors: Rose Lewis, Jane Dyer (Illustrator) Ranking: ★★★★☆ Plot Summary: This is the sequel to I Love You Like Crazy Cakes and is a beautiful narrative […]
Not Quite Narwhal Author and Illustrator: Jessie Sima Ranking: Plot Summary: “Growing up in the ocean, Kelp has always assumed that he was a narwhal like the rest of his family. […]
by Ollin Montes – originally published in Gazillion Voices Magazine, 2014 My love affair began in second grade. This relationship started with playful cuddling on comfy chairs during reading time […]
Jacqui True. The Political Economy of Violence Against Women. New York, NY. Oxford University Press. First Edition. 2012: 192. Gender based violence is the leading cause of death of women […]
Emma’s Story Authors: Deborah Hodge, Song Nan Zhang (Illustrator) Rating: ★★☆☆☆ Plot Summary: Emma and her brother are making cookies at their grandma’s house when she notices that she is the […]
For Mother’s Day I thought I would share a piece I wrote in early high school for my mom. From the time I was young, she has always been my […]